A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Alexandre, João (Dapin)

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

The diverse New York surf scene ranges from the hustling concrete-lined boardwalk setting at Long Beach to the affluent sea-grass-covered dunes of the Hamptons. Temperamental southwest-facing beach breaks make up the vast majority of surf spots along New York's 127-mile-long Long Island coast, with the most reliable waves found adjacent to jetties, piers, and inlets. (Surfing is also practiced along the New York shorelines of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie; 

The state's largest and most consistent surf usually breaks along Long Island's northeast shore in the Hamptons or the rugged Montauk region, where the state's only pointbreaks are found; the easy-breaking waves of Montauk's Ditch Plains have been called the "Mecca of New York surfing." The sheltered southwestern beaches offer better waves when huge swells have rendered the northern breaks unridable. Rockaway Beach, immortalized in a like-titled song by New York punk band the Ramones, is the only New York surfing beach accessible by subway, and offers a particularly urban surfscape. "One Brooklyn surfer was famous for surfing with a knife taped under his board," the 

 magazine reported in 1997, before commenting on tensions between local Irish, Haitian, Italian, Hispanic, and Jewish surfers.

New York generally gets its best surf in fall and spring, as Atlantic storms and hurricanes produce fairly steady two to four-foot waves, broken up by an occasional six-foot-plus swell. Summer can bring waveless conditions for weeks at a time; the winter surf gets excellent, but is cold and often prohibitively stormy. Average daytime air temperatures in coastal Long Island range from the low 80s in summer to the upper 30s in winter; water temperatures range from the low 70s to the low 30s.

Surfing was introduced to New York in 1912 by reknowned surfer/swimmer Duke Kahanamoku of Hawaii, who gave a wave-riding demonstration at Rockaway while traveling from Honolulu to compete in the Stockholm Olympics. Wisconsin-born surfer Tom Blake visited Jones Beach in the summer of 1934, rode with local lifeguards, and shared with them his latest hollow surfboard designs. A few more locals picked up the sport, but it developed slowly over the decades, practiced mainly by lifeguards at Babylon, Jones Beach, and Gilgo Beach. 

In 1959, Long Island surfer John Hannon began selling surfboards out of his garage, and the following year Hannon opened a surf shop near Gilgo, with protégé Charlie Bunger soon to follow. Lido Beach was the site of New York's first surf contest, held in the summer of 1960; the 

 covered the event, which was attended by more than 10,000 people. The first East Coast Surfing Championships were held at Gilgo the following year. (Since 1965, the Championships have been held in Virginia Beach.) Westhampton surfer Rick Rasmussen won the 1974 United States Surfing Championships, and was still regarded as New York's hottest surfer eight years later when he was shot and killed during a Harlem drug deal. Other notable New York surfers include surfing novelist Allen Weisbecker, Eastern Surfing Association founder Rudy Huber, and pro surfer Balaram Stack. 

 magazine was published in Brooklyn from 1965 to 1968, and 

 was published in Long Island in 1966 and 1967. 

 was published in Manhattan from 1969 to 1971.

The waves were up during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and a half-dozen surfers who worked for businesses housed in the World Trade Center had skipped work that morning and gone to the beach; at least one New York surfer/fireman, however, died when the buildings collapsed.

The New York Surf Film Festival has been held annually since 2007 and attracts filmmakers, surfers, and surf movie enthusiasts from across the globe. Montauk was named to 

 magazine's "10 Best Surf Towns in America" list in 2010. In 2011, Quiksilver sponsored the Quik Pro New York, a world tour event with the largest winner's check in the the history of surfing; Australia's Owen Wright defeated Kelly Slater in the finals and took home $300,000 for his efforts.

As of 2012, New York was home to roughly two dozen surf shops and over 5,000 surfers. The Unsound Pro, New York's first important pro tour surf contest, was held annually from 1999 to 2002; the Eastern Surfing Association runs about 10 amateur contests in New York each year. The New York surf has been featured in a small number of surf movies and videos, including 

New York

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